Cotton-collecting apparatus



(No Model.)

0. J. LUOE. COTTON COLLECTING APPARATUS.

Patented May 10,1898.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES J. LUCE, O-F NIANTIC, CONNECTICUT.

COTTON-COLLECTING APPARATUS.

; SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 603,697, dated May 10, 1898.

Application filed July 17, 1897. Serial No. 644,948. (No model.)

Each pipe I has branches J J, equipped with receiving-funnels and with means to fasten them, respectively, to the arms of the persons. The receiver K may be strapped to the forearm, as indicated in Fig. 4, or otherwise fastened, and the mouth of the receiver K is ar- To ctZZ whom it may concern: I

i Be it known that I, CHARLES J. LUCE, aciti- 'zen of the United States, and a resident of :Niantic, in the county of New London and State of Connecticut, have invented certain 1 new and useful Improvements in Cotton-Collecting Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to means for facilitating the natural manner of picking cotton by hand; and the object of said invention is to Y g auitomatically convey the bolls of cotton from the hands of the person or persons engaged in picking to a bag; also, to relieve the picki save the pickers the interruption and delay ers from the burden of carrying bags and to 3 of handing the cotton into the bags, so that their work may continue uninterruptedly and with great rapidity.

To these ends my invention consists in a pneumatic collecting apparatus arrangedin proximity to the hand and adapted to catch and to dispose of the cotton as fast as it is picked by the hand, while permitting the free movements of the fingers.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a rear elevation of the machine; Fig. 2, a plan View enlarged; Fig. 3, a side elevation; Fig. 4, a perspective detail view showing the receiver applied to the hand, and Fig. 5 an internal perspective view of the receiver.

A represents a suitable truck or vehicle carrying an exhaust-fan B, of any usual or suitable construction, and having suitable means C for supporting a bag D under the delivery-pipe E of the fan.

F represents a vapor or other motor for driving the fan.

G is the suction-pipe of the-fan, which for convenience is branched into a tree H H, having suspended therefrom flexible pipes I, which are of sufficient length to permit the independent movements of the operators.

ranged, as shown, with a closed under portion M, Fig. 5, and open upper and forward portions, so as to allow of the free movement of the thumb and fingers in picking, and having the outer Wall P higher than the walls N and 0, so as to form'a guard and prevent the pieces of cotton from dropping, so that they will all be caught by the current of air and drawn into the neck L of the receiver and thence through the pipesJ I H G and through the fan B and delivering-pipe E to the bag D. Ordinary jute bags are intended to be used, allowing the air to escape through them, and these are interchangeably attached to the pipe E and may be replaced as fast as filled.

The machine may be drawn by horse-power or otherwise.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

In a cotton-harvesting apparatus, the combination with means for exhausting air, and a flexible pneumatic tube, of a funnel thereon, and means for attaching it to the wrist of the operator adjacent to the palm of the hand, and a guard projecting from one side of the mouth of the funnel in a position adapted to become substantially opposite to the palm of the hand when the funnel is attached, leaving the fingers and thumb of the operator free to pick the cotton and feed it upon said guard toward the mouth of the funnel.

Signed in the city, county, and State of New York this 15th day of July, A. D. 1897.

CHARLES J. LUCE.

Witnesses:

H. F. PARKER, A. M. RODE. 

